Sermon: Job: Things Left Unsaid

#1737
David C. Grabbe
Given 02-Dec-23; 70 minutes 2023-12-02

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We are told that nothing is certain in life but death and taxes. I won’t be talking about either of those today, but about a third certainty that all of God’s children encounter. When we come under the blood of Christ—and often before—we are guaranteed to experience trials and tests, hardship and suffering. While the world suffers as well, God’s children are blessed in that He oversees all that we go through. He ensures our hardship will not be more than we can bear, and also that it will produce good fruit as we yield to Him.

In terms of suffering, the book of Job is a common place of inquiry for believers enduring severe trials. When we or someone close to us goes through great anguish or intense pressure, we can identify with Job as he seeks for answers about what seems to be a grave injustice. Job wrestles with questions like why bad things happen to good people, or how God can reward righteousness with tragedy. Job strives to understand why God allows or even causes seemingly undeserved calamity.

Please start turning to Job. In this book, we see a righteous man reflecting on his life, trying to reconcile his newly miserable circumstances with what he feels to be a life that is above reproach—and in fact, it was.

Sin is not the reason for Job’s trial. In Job 1, the very first verse establishes that Job “was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” In God’s conversations with Satan, God holds up Job as perhaps the epitome of human righteousness. In Job 1:8 and 2:3, God Himself gives two witnesses of Job’s character by using the exact same words twice. He says, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?"

We won’t turn to it, but through Ezekiel, God goes beyond saying that Job is “blameless and upright,” and calls him righteous. God implies that if Job had lived in the land of Israel, he would have been spared from God’s judgment on Jerusalem. Job is noted as one of the three most righteous men in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 14:14, 20).

Job’s righteousness went beyond simply fulfilling the letter of the law. He understood the spirit of the law as well. If you would flip over to chapter 31, we will see some of this, beginning with verse 1:

Job 31:1 "I have made a covenant with my eyes, why then should I look upon a young woman?”

His words exactly align with Christ’s “but I say to you” statement in Matthew 5 concerning the intent behind the seventh commandment.

Moving on to verse 5, he defends himself against charges of falsehood or deceit.

In verse 9, he maintains his integrity toward his neighbor’s wife.

In verse 13, he denounces even thoughts of mistreating those who serve him.

In verses 16-21, he recounts his compassion and defense of the poor, the fatherless, and the widow. Job could check all the right boxes.

Throughout chapter 31, Job testifies that his approach to life was one of justice, mercy, pity, compassion, and defending the poor, while also disdaining greed, covetousness, and materialism. And God’s wholehearted endorsement of Job (at the beginning) strongly indicates that Job was truthful in what he said. It is doubtful that this man whom God says was blameless and upright would suddenly start telling tall tales about himself.

In terms of his outgoing concern and understanding God’s intent, there is a previous example in chapter 29:

Job 29:12-17 Because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper. The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the case that I did not know. I broke the fangs of the wicked, and plucked the victim from his teeth.

Remember that James defines “pure and undefiled religion” as “to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). God declared that Job “shun[ned] evil,” which lines up with “keep[ing] oneself unspotted from the world.” And Job’s testimony here in Job 29 and 31 demonstrates his record in “visit[ing] orphans and widows in their trouble.” So, Job practiced pure and undefiled religion.

Truly, Job is an outstanding example. In fact, not even Satan brought a charge against Job when given the chance. That is really something to think about. Revelation 12:10 calls Satan, the “accuser of our brethren, who accuse[s] them before our God, day and night.” God inspired the apostle John to describe Satan as always pointing out the shortcomings of God’s people. Similarly, Zechariah 3 shows Satan opposing and accusing Joshua, the high priest. And yet, this expert fault-finder did not mention any faults in Job.

I’ve titled this message, “Things Left Unsaid,” and Satan’s lack of accusation is one of those things. Even though the book consists almost entirely of speeches, it also contains some deafening silences, where things are not said that we might expect would be said, or even should be said. Satan’s response contains one such silence, and we will see a handful of others as we progress through this book.

One possibility for Satan’s missing accusation is that there really was nothing of which to accuse Job—that he really was that righteous. Another possibility is that Satan, knowing human nature as he does, had some inkling of something in Job’s heart, but he chose to leave it unsaid for his own reasons, which we will explore later.

Please turn to chapter 1:

Job 1:9-11 So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

Satan implies that Job’s fear of God is without depth or even artificial, but he presents no proof. Satan does not charge Job with any wrongdoing. Instead, Satan suggests that if circumstances were different, then Job would sin. He presents a hypothetical situation rather than an accusation. If anything, Satan acknowledges Job’s fear of God. He just tries to cast aspersions on it by saying that it would be different if God were not propping up Job. Satan’s focus here is on what God has done, saying Job wouldn’t be so impressive if God weren’t so active in his life. We see this again in the next chapter:

Job 2:3-5 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

Here Satan issues a further challenge to God, but still does not point out how Job has sinned. It is another dare to get God to pull away more of the hedge. The essence of Satan’s words in these two chapters is not, “here is where Job is sinning,” but rather, “Job will sin if God would stop doing so much.” Satan can only poke at God in response to God’s obvious pleasure with Job. But Satan nowhere says where Job has fallen short.

Now, this does not mean that Job had never sinned. Job himself refers to the iniquities of his youth (Job 13:26), as well as to his sins, iniquities, and transgressions in general (Job 14:16-17). But Satan’s words are significant in that if Job were a habitual, secret sinner, as his friends later allege, Satan would have laid that before God with relish. But he didn’t. So, keep in mind what Satan left unsaid, and we will come back to it.

Again, this does not mean that Job was entirely without flaw. However, we have God’s own testimony of Job’s blamelessness, uprightness, fearing of God and shunning of evil. This means that what Job went through was not a judgment for sin or a curse for disobedience. Something else was taking place, something that God left as an admonition for us.

Now, Job’s devastating trial did bring something to the surface that he needed to repent of, which he did. Of course, God knew what was in Job because He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It certainly seems like God arranged this trial at least as a test, and likely to address something beginning to develop. Job was blameless and upright going into this great trial, and the trial, then, perhaps in combination with the ignorant accusations from his companions, revealed a pattern of thinking that had been germinating within Job, and which God killed rather than letting its roots develop further.

Job’s three friends—who may be the worst friends ever—offer Job no real consolation or help during his trial. From chapter 3 through chapter 31, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar debate with Job, arguing from a very narrow perspective that Job’s disastrous circumstances could only be a result of some great sin that had provoked the Almighty. As Job protests his innocence, his friends move from insinuation of wickedness to outright accusation. They have a constricted view of God, God’s justice, God’s works, and God’s fundamental nature.

Though the companions use different weapons, they mount a three-pronged attack by maintaining that Job must be a secret sinner, and he has received what he deserves. It appears to them that Job is cursed by God, and their conclusion is that Job is a sinner.

Even as Job parries their verbal jabs and defends his uprightness, he begs God for an explanation. He greatly desires his day in court, as it were, to hear the charges against him and then present his case. He is absolutely convinced that he has done nothing that warranted such an act of God. All he wants is to be able to talk it out so that God might hear his side of the story—or at least so he can hear from God why something so horrible has occurred to him. He is searching for the cause of his hardship and knows that only God can supply the answer. Repeatedly, he seeks a venue wherein everything would be explained. Much to his terror, he later receives what he seeks when God Himself answers Job.

But prior to God’s answering Job from the whirlwind, a fourth companion, Elihu, suddenly steps onto the scene, seemingly from nowhere:

Job 32:1-3 So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

Elihu criticizes Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar for blindly accusing Job without any depth of understanding of the situation. Elihu’s charge against them was that they had decided on Job’s guilt first, and then went on a fishing expedition to collect the evidence. So, their approach was completely wrongheaded, and they earn God’s displeasure.

Elihu also rebukes Job for so easily comparing God with a man, and for asserting that God is unjust. Job simply cannot conceive that he has done anything wrong, and so he justifies himself rather than God. Justifying God should be our default. No matter what God does, He is right in doing it. Elihu takes great exception to the assertion that God is in any way unrighteous in His dealings with His creation. Because of God’s nature, it is impossible that He had been unjust regarding Job or any other created thing. And because He is sovereign, God does not answer to anyone.

If you would look over to chapter 33, we will read more of Elihu’s response:

Job 33:6-14 “Truly I am as your spokesman before God; I also have been formed out of clay. Surely no fear of me will terrify you, nor will my hand be heavy on you. Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words, saying, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me. Yet He finds occasions against me, He counts me as His enemy; He puts my feet in the stocks, He watches all my paths.’ [Elihu says,] “Look, in this you are not righteous. I will answer you, for God is greater than man. Why do you contend with Him? For He does not give an accounting of any of His words. For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it.

As Elihu points out, even though God is not required to, He does give answers—though not always in the way that a man might expect or want. Sometimes God sends a person, like Elihu, to those whom He is saving. At other times God’s messenger is an event or an intractable circumstance that urgently invites God’s child to take stock of himself and consider where he is out of alignment with God, or whether he may be leaving the path, or what changes in perspective he needs to make.

So, Elihu gives examples of God’s non-human messengers, such as in verse 15, where he mentions dreams or visions. This relates to part of Job’s venting in chapter 7:13-14, where he says that when he seeks comfort in his bed, perhaps to escape the reality of his life, then God scares him with dreams and terrifies him with visions. This does not mean that every dream is from God, but at times there are dreams that really give us something to think about.

Verses 19-22 say that pain and affliction to the point of not wanting to eat can also be God’s messenger. Back in Job 6:6-7, Job experienced this state of having lost his desire for food because of his distress. Elihu says here it is one of God’s messengers. Even so, not every ache or sickness is a messenger from God. Sometimes we simply neglect our health and suffer the consequences. Yet affliction does get our attention, so if we believe in God’s workmanship, it is always wise to consider whether an event or circumstance could be a messenger from God.

In verses 23-30, Elihu continues to explain that God, in His mercy, sends messengers or intercessors to show God’s righteousness. God’s purpose is to get His children’s attention back on God and His standard to bring about repentance, as it says in verse 27. And Elihu summarizes God’s hidden work in verses 29-30, where he says,

Job 33:29-30 “Behold, God works all these things, twice, in fact, three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

So, Elihu points out that God sends multiple messengers like those he mentioned to save a man—meaning, Job—from destruction or corruption. We won’t go through all that Elihu says in chapters 34—37, where, as one of God’s messengers, Elihu extols God’s justice, His greatness, His majesty, and His unsurpassed position. These were all the things to which Job, in his self-centered condition, was blinding himself.

After Elihu speaks, Job does not have a chance to retort (as he did with his other companions). Perhaps Job received Elihu’s words as another attack, like the others’. But it wasn’t an attack. It was a message from God to keep this man from the Pit.

At this point, God is finished sending messengers that went unheeded. He speaks to Job Himself in the most terrifying event of Job’s life. His response to Job spans four chapters: chapters 38—41. God’s words there are similar in approach and effect to some of His responses in the New Testament. That is, His responses there frequently had the effect of putting the questioner in his place. In some cases, His responses at first may not seem to have anything to do with the questions being asked. In reality, His responses did answer the questions, but they did so at a much higher level than the questioner was thinking.

And that is what we see in the book of Job. God’s response is one of His longest statements in the Bible, but it does not directly answer Job’s question. The direct answer to Job’s question of why all this had befallen him is left unsaid. This absence requires Job to carefully consider what God does say, and why He says it, and how it is an answer.

One of the strongest themes in God’s answer is His sovereignty, yet there are nuances within that which we need to understand. God’s sovereignty has several aspects, one of which Job shows he is well aware of. But there are other aspects that Job had trouble either understanding or accepting.

We won’t take the time to chase this out completely, but in chapter 7, Job acknowledges and sincerely believes that God is sovereign in the sense that Job’s life is in God’s hands. In fact, at that point, Job wishes that God, in His sovereignty, would simply end Job’s life, or at least stop focusing on him, so that he might have some relief.

This is seen again in chapter 9, where Job makes the case that it is because of God’s sovereignty and His loftiness that Job cannot approach Him and get the answer to his question:

Job 9:1-19 Then Job answered and said: “Truly I know it is so, but how can a man be righteous before God? If one wished to contend with Him, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? [God] removes the mountains, and they do not know when He overturns them in His anger; He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars; He alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea; He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; He does great things past finding out, yes, wonders without number. If He goes by me, I do not see Him; if He moves past, I do not perceive Him; if He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’ God will not withdraw His anger, the allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath Him. How then can I answer Him, and choose my words to reason with Him? For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge. If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice. For He crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong; and if of justice, who will appoint my day in court?

Job describes God’s sovereignty quite vividly—but he does so as a complaint rather than as praise. He speaks more like an adversary than an admirer of God. When you read through Job’s responses here and throughout chapters 12, 23, 26 and 28, it is apparent that he has a terrific grasp on the power aspect of God’s sovereignty. But it seems he has not yet taken it to its logical conclusion. He has a difficult time applying God’s sovereignty to himself in all things. Job knows that God is all-powerful. What Job has trouble with is accepting that God is always justified in everything He does. Job does not yet accept that the Sovereign is free to execute His authority as He pleases, and to make judgments that cannot be judged by man.

Please turn to chapter 38. As we analyze God’s answer to Job, we will see that His words are about more than simply overwhelming Job. Nor was God merely stating His legal position that He has the right to create circumstances in His creation as He sees fit. God was doing more than just pointing out He is all-powerful. All of His examples in chapters 38 and 39 draw attention to the fact that He is the Creator. His sovereign role, not as Judge, but as Creator is at the core of how He answers Job.

In verses 4-7, God claims laying the foundation of the earth, including determining its exact size. Job, of course, was nowhere around, so he is completely unqualified to advise God on how to run His creation.

In verses 8-11, God tells of setting limits on the seas. If the sea levels rise, it’s in His hands, and driving electric vehicles won’t make any difference.

In verses 19-20, God portrays light and darkness as having dwelling places where each belong, a description that makes little sense to us, even with our advanced knowledge. Perhaps this is hyperbole, or perhaps God looks at light and dark from an entirely different vantage point since He created them. In verse 22, He speaks of treasuries of snow and hail, which is also different from how mankind sees it. In verse 25, God declares that He determines the paths of lightning bolts.

Starting in verse 31, He relates how the constellations are all under His command, and He moves them at will. He rhetorically asks, "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule over the earth?" (Job 38:33). Obviously, Job could not, and neither can man today. But God has perfect visibility into how the heavenly bodies influence the earth in terms of its orbit, climate, tides, tectonic plates, and any number of other aspects.

As if the grand view of things was not enough, God then reveals what He does for the individual parts of the creation on earth. In verse 39, He basically says that He hunts the prey for the lions. He says He provides for the young ravens when they cry out to Him (Job 38:41). We don’t think of the animals doing that, but that is His description as their Creator.

Moving on to chapter 39, He knows when each mountain goat is about to be born and when each doe is about to give birth (Job 39:1-4). Throughout the chapter, He describes the uniqueness of the donkey, the ostrich, the horse, the hawk, and the eagle. He tells of the strengths that He gave each one, as well as those He purposefully left out (Job 39:5-30).

Yet in God’s highlighting of the various aspects of creation, there is a notable absence, another thing left unsaid. Using absence to draw attention seems to be one of God’s patterns, and it can be seen all the way back in the Garden of Eden. Remember that God brought the animals to Adam for naming. God had Adam focus on the animals, but in the background, Adam’s mind was working. Adam noticed that there were two types of each kind of animal, but there was only one of his kind. Through that activity, God silently helped Adam to recognize that he was incomplete as it dawned on him that each animal had something that he was missing.

Similarly, chapters 38-39 overlap the Creation Week in Genesis 1. However, in recounting the details of the creation to Job, God stops with Day 5. Day 6 and the creation of mankind—the pinnacle of God’s handiwork—remain unmentioned. Even the angels get a mention, but there is not one word about mankind. Perhaps God left out mankind from His verbal showcase of His works in response to Job’s bitter question in Job 7:17. There, Job asks, “What is man, that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart on him . . . ?” So, God did not exalt man, since Job did that in speech after speech by justifying himself.

Let’s consider that, as with Adam, God was leading Job’s thoughts with all these examples of God’s workmanship to help Job reach the right conclusion. Let’s think about what God left unsaid as it might apply to Job.

God Himself says that Job was blameless, that he was upright, and he was righteous. Now, where did Job’s righteousness come from? Was Job’s character a product of evolution, or creation? Was Job’s righteousness self-made? In view of the rest of Scripture, the only conclusion is that Job was exemplary because of what God did—because God had known him since before the foundation of the world, and had been guiding events even before Job’s birth that would shape Job into the exemplary man that he had become. Job did not just happen onto the right way to live.

God was the one who put a hedge around Job, protecting him from Satan, giving him the environment of peace wherein righteousness is developed. God was the one who was merciful to Job in not blotting him out on the occasions when he fell short. God created the circumstances for Job to learn self-control, to develop empathy and pity, and to learn justice for his fellow man. Job cooperated with God in all this, and things went very well for him. Yet they weren’t his doing. Job would not have even been aware of God’s standard of righteousness in the letter, let alone the spirit, as we saw, unless God had revealed it.

The creation of mankind in the character image of God is God’s work. We cannot make ourselves into God’s image. We not only lack the ability, but we also cannot even clearly see the end product. A piece of pottery is beautiful because of what the Potter does, not because of what the clay does. The clay simply yields.

Likewise, the righteousness of Job can only be attributed to the work that God had done—not what Job had done. Job does not seem to have been aware of all that God had been doing, or that, really, Job had simply yielded to God’s creative work. And where there is unawareness of God, it is because the focus is on something else. Hold onto that thought.

God’s answer to Job was an unstated reminder that God’s work of creating did not stop when Job was born. As impressive as Job was, he could not take credit for it. All that he was depended on what God did first and continued to do throughout Job’s life.

Thus, we find something else left unsaid in this book. We briefly covered some of Job’s listing of his righteous deeds in chapters 29 and 31, but other than acknowledging that God had been with him, Job gave no credit to God when he recounted his good works, which is a serious omission. Whether he realized it or not, leaving God’s part unsaid was boasting in something he had received. Job speaks as though his accomplishments were his alone.

There is a contrast with Paul’s approach. Paul tells us, “I labored more abundantly than they all,” which at first might seem like boasting, but then he immediately follows that with, “yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” Paul says, “By the grace of GOD I am what I am” (I Corinthians 15:10). He gives the glory to God for whatever good work was performed. Likewise, while walking the earth, the Son of God pointed out that it was the Father who did the work through Him.

But Job never gives God the credit. Instead, he says, in essence, “Look at what I am. I have done nothing to deserve such treatment from God.” He readily acknowledges that God made him physically, but seems ignorant that the good in him was because of what God did as well.

God’s examples to Job of creation also give an implied answer to Job’s burning question of why these disasters had befallen him: It was because God was still creating Job. God was not finished fashioning Job into His own image. Only the Potter knew what further preparation the clay needed to be a beautiful vessel. While Job was righteous and blameless, he was not yet perfect. God was not punishing Job because of wickedness; He was perfecting Job. There was still work to be done, and God was doing it—through giving Job a better perspective of himself in relation to his Creator.

In this light, chapters 38—39, with their notable absence of any mention of mankind, could be indirectly pointing out to Job that since he wasn’t even around for the creating that took place on the first five days, it was absurd for Job to think he could oversee the creation of mankind into God’s spiritual image, which began on the sixth day.

After God testifies of His work as the sovereign Creator, He challenges Job:

Job 40:1-2 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said: “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.”

Previously, Job had spoken both to his comforters and to God, yet God heard all the words, not just the ones Job spoke to Him. That should put fear in us if we are prone to complaining about our lot in life. Even if we direct our murmuring to others, God is listening, and He may judge that we are calling Him into account. Solomon says, “Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. [And we are always before God.] For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:2).

Early on, as Job’s trial was unfolding, he had the right responses. When he heard that his wealth and his servants and even his grown children had all been taken away or killed, he said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” He did not sin or charge God with wrong.

After that, Satan was allowed to afflict Job with painful boils. In the midst of his misery, his wife helpfully suggested that he just curse God and die. He told her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” Job still did not sin with his lips.

Yet that statement that “in all this, Job did not sin with his lips” seems to be a dividing point, like a line in the sand. He was blameless up to that point, but after sitting in agony, then Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth (Job 3:1-16). His initial responses to the unfolding trial had been above reproach, but as his circumstances settled on him, he called God into account for allowing him to be born. If suffering was the result of being given life, then Job questioned God’s judgment in allowing his life to begin.

We saw before that Job left things unsaid in not giving credit to God. But on the flipside, if you read Job’s speeches, there were many things he should have left unsaid to his friends but didn’t, and God was listening to His creation. To the omniscient Almighty, Job was contending, rebuking, and correcting Him, regardless of to whom Job was speaking.

One of Job’s oft-quoted sayings is in Job 13:15: “Though [God] slay me, yet will I trust Him.” That is a moving statement, but Job really only trusted God with his death. He didn’t trust God with his life, which is why he cursed the day he was born and asked God to end it all.

In contrast, Jesus endured His undeserved suffering in silence. Any words about unfairness, or about the most grievous injustice of all time, were left unsaid. Christ’s silence proclaimed His absolute trust in the Father’s will for His life.

Continuing in verse 3, Job squeaks out that he is finished talking:

Job 40:3-14 Then Job answered the LORD and said: “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.” Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: “Would you indeed annul My judgment? [His judgment in allowing or even arranging for these things to happen] Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage of your wrath; look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. [Perhaps God is giving Job a little reflection.] Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in hidden darkness. Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you.

God’s response deals with His sovereignty, but remember that Job agreed that God is far stronger than Job. What God explains here is that one with such power has the authority or the just cause to do things like what Job has been objecting to. With God—and God alone—might really does make right. But at the same time, everything God does is an act of love, which is sometimes difficult to wrap our minds around when we read things like Job, or maybe when we recall events in our own lives that seem devoid of God’s love. It’s because our understanding of His love is still incomplete.

So, while Job acknowledges God’s power, what flows from His power is also the right to act as He sees fit, even when sin isn’t directly involved. We must understand that God does far more than just respond to sin. Job believed that his blamelessness and his model life exempted him from undergoing extreme hardship, as though the Creator requires sin to be present before being allowed to act in His own creation. He doesn’t. God always has the right. That is what Job had not accepted—yet.

We will move on to chapter 41, which is the end of God’s devastating message to Job. This whole chapter, which is about one quarter of God’s words to Job, is about Leviathan. This is God’s deafening finale, so we need to pay attention to what is said and why.

Some commentators say that Leviathan is a crocodile, and that the parts of the description that don’t fit a crocodile are just hyperbole on God’s part. But there are some problems with that. To begin with, God gave mankind dominion over all the animals, but when you read this chapter, it is clear that only God has dominion over Leviathan. Dominating a crocodile has its challenges, to be sure, but mankind has done it. Yet Leviathan is well outside the dominion of man.

Also, Leviathan is mentioned in a couple of other places. Psalm 74:14 says that Leviathan has multiple heads, which does not match a crocodile, but which does find some similarity with the dragon that has seven heads in Revelation 12:3. Even more telling is Isaiah 27:1:

Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; and [God] will slay the reptile that is in the sea.

The word for “reptile” there can indicate a sea monster or a dragon. So, with the serpent and dragon references, it becomes clear that Leviathan is a symbol for Satan.

God’s penetrating questions to Job regarding Leviathan reveal the powerlessness of Job or any man before this beast. God describes the ferocity and unassailable strength of this monster, and He uses the contrast between Leviathan and mankind to further underscore the difference between man and God. We will get a sampling of this, beginning in verse 7:

Job 41:7-10 Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears? Lay your hand on him; remember the battle—never do it again! Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false; shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him? No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me?

The chapter then continues with God’s description of this dragon, and again, this is the final thing God says to Job—a rhetorical blast that must have filled Job with terror. There must be a reason that so much of one of God’s longest personal speeches would involve Leviathan. Everything God says is deliberate and meaningful. But He doesn’t tell us precisely what we should glean from His highlighting of Leviathan—and thus of Satan.

A modern speech critic might look askance at this because God’s conclusion here leaves the audience hanging. God doesn’t explain or summarize what He is saying, at least not in an immediately obvious way. This absence—this final thing left unsaid—requires the hearer or the reader to really meditate on God’s intended meaning here.

There are several possibilities that we will consider. The first is to remind Job of the defenselessness of any man against this powerful and deadly being. As the beginning of the book shows, God—and God only—keeps Satan in check by putting a hedge around His people and limiting what Satan is allowed to do. God’s continual protection of His people is a significant example of His grace, yet also something that is easy to forget without occasional reminders. Job’s trial was such a reminder. God’s description of Leviathan would have reminded Job of the folly of contending with God when God was the one continually and faithfully defending Job against a foe that wanted to crush him.

Even with all of Job’s merits, there was still much that was far beyond his abilities, such as what it says in verse 5 about being able to “play with [Leviathan] as with a bird,” or putting a leash on Leviathan for the enjoyment of one of his daughters. Job thought he could meet with the Almighty on essentially equal terms, and God reminds him that he is far down the ladder of power and authority within the universe. Since Job could not even handle a confrontation with Leviathan on his own, he was in no position to demand anything from Leviathan’s Superior.

But there is another possibility worth considering. Remember that the book begins with God praising Job to Satan. However, God also describes the archangel Helel, who became Satan, in glowing terms. Please turn with me to Ezekiel 28:

Ezekiel 28:12-15 [Breaking into verse 12:] You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering…. [Dropping down:] The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.

Ezekiel 28:17… Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor….

God calls this archangel, who was a creation like Job, the seal of perfection. Even though he was created “perfect in [his] ways,” his heart became “lifted up” and he “corrupted [his] wisdom.” Put simply, he thought too highly of himself. He put himself on the same level as God, similar to what Job was doing, and eventually the archangel’s feelings about himself led him into open war with his Maker. Please turn to Isaiah 14:

Isaiah 14:12-14 How you are fallen from heaven, O [Helel], son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like [or simply, be] the Most High.'

Perhaps Job, with all that God has blessed him with, was beginning to follow this same path and to become another Adversary of God. In fact, back in Job 16:9, Job even calls God his adversary. Job could see that his life was superior to other men’s, but along the way, a measure of narcissism developed.

We already saw Job’s pure and undefiled religion in chapter 29, but let’s return there and see the context that came before:

Job 29:2 “Oh, that I were as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me;

Job 29:7-12 “When I went out to the gate by the city, when I took my seat in the open square, the young men saw me and hid, and the aged arose and stood; the princes refrained from talking, and put their hand on their mouth; the voice of nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw, then it approved me; because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper.

Job reflects on how people would look up to him. Elders would rise before him, and princes and nobles would grow quiet and wait to hear what he had to say. Verse 12 and the ones that give Job’s reason why the people gave him such deference: His charitable deeds. His care of the poor, the fatherless, and the widows. He loved to be well thought of, and now he was missing that.

Just to clarify, I’m not saying this narcissism was malignant, as in Dr. Peck’s book. Nor was it covert narcissism disguised as altruism, as one singer admits to. God would not have called Job blameless and upright if he had a covering of lies to build up his image. Yet from his own mouth, he was in love with the reflection, which indicates some form of narcissism.

Job wants to return to the acclaim and respect he had before God spoiled his success (Job 30:22). The mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart, and as Job says here, he missed his praise, his honor, and his own benevolence. Job couldn’t see God clearly enough because his focus was on himself. Thus, he upheld his own uprightness rather than God’s.

Job’s demands throughout the book show a willingness to put himself on the same level as God, as Helel did. The next step down that dark road was to challenge God Himself. Really, Job was already challenging God, though his challenges were only verbal. Job did not have the power of an archangel, and Job’s lack of comparable power was part of his complaint. Job objects that he couldn’t meet with God because God’s power is overwhelming. But it was the same satanic impulse, where the creation believes it knows better than its Creator.

Please hold your place here and turn to II Corinthians 12. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was like an extended, though less intense, version of Job’s trial. Even though Paul was a man of great faith—faith enough to be healed, we would think—God chose not to heal him. God allowed him to be afflicted, not as a punishment, but because of what it would produce. God saw the end result and knew that it would be good:

II Corinthians 12:7-9 And lest I should be exalted above measure [like Satan and like Job] by the abundance of the revelations [because of God’s works], a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan [allowed by God] to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times [he pleaded—without complaining; without demanding] that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

God’s affliction of Paul was a way for him to be continually reminded of his dependence on God, which would prevent him from being “exalted above measure” and losing sight of all the aspects of God’s sovereignty. The affliction kept Paul pliable and usable by God. God says that He looks upon those of a humble and contrite spirit, those who tremble at His word, not those who would have God answer to them.

Please turn back to Job 41. In contrast to Paul’s pliability and yieldedness, Leviathan’s scales are rigid and impervious to assault. They are so hard and close-fitting that nothing can get through to him:

Job 41:15-17 His rows of scales are his pride, shut up tightly as with a seal; one is so near another that no air can come between them; they are joined one to another, they stick together and cannot be parted.

This is a description of Leviathan’s armor, but consider that this also could describe Job’s verbal, mental, and emotional defenses. The spears, darts, and javelins from the mouths of his companions had no effect on him. Any hope they had of getting through to Job was false because Job had a justification for everything. The pain, affliction, dreams, and other messengers of God didn’t penetrate, either. His assurance of his own rightness made him invincible. He had already found his own ways to be above reproach. And they were. Yet his opinion of himself was so high that he concluded that Almighty God was unjustified. Like Leviathan, nothing could get through to Job—nothing, that is, until God manifested Himself and finally broke through Job’s scales.

If Job was catching a glimpse of himself in God’s description of Leviathan, the final words in verse 34 must have really stung: “He beholds every high thing [which means he is so self-confident that he looks at haughty and lofty things in the face, without flinching]; he is king over all the children of pride.” Those are the last words of God, the ones left ringing and echoing in Job’s ears. In losing sight of the immense gulf between himself and his Creator, Job was becoming a child of pride. In Job’s present state, Leviathan was his king.

Perhaps this is why Satan left any accusation against Job unsaid. Perhaps before the trial, Satan recognized a germ of his own image in Job, and Satan was unwilling to expose this facet in Job because it would mean admitting that he is wrong, which isn’t in his nature. It’s an interesting possibility. It is also a sobering reminder that even one blameless, upright, and righteous as Job can still manifest elements of Satan’s nature.

Job’s response indicates that he felt the full weight of God’s overwhelming answer:

Job 42:1-6 Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

The account only mentions Job seeing the whirlwind—the massive storm that God wrapped Himself in, so He didn’t obliterate Job with His brightness. But God’s words from within the storm, introduced by God’s messengers, painted a picture with such clarity that Job’s mind could fill in what he had been missing, and he could see.

Job already had much understanding about God and the right way to live, and he had admirably submitted to what he understood—more than anyone on earth. His fear of what he understood of God kept him from significant disobedience. He was blameless.

But it was not until he went through this monumental trial that he finally saw God, and not just the storm. He saw God’s sovereignty, His majesty, His mercy, His unsurpassed ability, His unrivaled position, and His righteousness. He finally saw God’s justified superiority over everything He had affectionately created and was creating, including righteous Job.

And in seeing God so clearly for the first time, Job also saw the great difference between God and himself, and he became acutely aware of his own blameless-yet-pitiful state. When this righteous man saw himself in relation to God, he abhorred himself. He no longer thought highly of himself at all. He repented of his concept of God and his concept of himself, and how grossly disproportionate both were. Job finally had the right perspective.

James 5:11 gives us the only New Testament commentary on the book of Job. James 5:11 says, “. . . You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

There are a couple of ways we can think of God’s compassion and mercy in Job. One is that God was very patient with Job as he sorted through his circumstance and uttered foolish things. God even restored Job’s fortunes and blessed him with more children.

But another way to look at this is that Job’s trial was an act of compassion and mercy, because to allow what was in Job’s heart to continue to grow would mean that God didn’t care about Job. So, in His mercy, God pierced Job’s impenetrable scales and exposed the high-mindedness to the light.

In God’s concern for His child, He arrested Job’s progression into a being to whom God could not grant eternal life in His Kingdom. In short, Job’s trial was a devastating act of love.

The Proverbs tell us that the ways that seem right to man end in death. Only God sees the future and end of all paths, and only He knows what course corrections are needed before we reach a point of no return—even without our falling into a life of sin.

Maybe we are enduring a trial we cannot reconcile with the normal sowing and reaping we all do. Maybe we have been guilty of justifying ourselves rather than God. Yet we have no way of knowing what our lives would be like if God didn’t hedge us in and hedge Satan out. We can imagine how our lives would be better, in some ways and in our view, but we can’t see what present or future calamities God is saving us from, especially the spiritual ones. But we can at least begin with the truth that God is merciful, and that He knows what He is doing as He creates us.

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